Description: In this episode of MicrobeWorld Video we ask some leading researchers, education specialists, and public health officials about the state of HIV/AIDS education in America and ideas they have to support the teaching of microbial evolution using the latest HIV/AIDS research — all while instilling innovative prevention strategies. Filmed at a forum for educators on February, 11, 2008 at the Koshland Science Museum in Washington, D.C. and at San Diego State University, this episode features the following experts: Roland Wolkowicz, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, San Diego State University, whose research focus is on the use of random peptide libraries and other chemical genetics approaches for the study of viral pathogenesis and the search of antiviral factors in HIV1 and HCV. Shannon Lee Hader, M.D., MPH, Director of the HIV/AIDS Administration for Washington, D.C., an epidemiologist and public health physician who has worked with HIV-infected children and adults in Brazil, Jamaica, and Zimbabwe. Anila Asghar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Education at Johns Hopkins University, whose research focuses on curriculum development and evolution. Educational resources mentioned within the video can be found online at: Koshland Science Museum http://koshlandscience.org/teachers/webquest.jsp NIH Curriculum Guide http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih1/Diseases/default.htm Howard Hughes MedicalInstitute http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/ Please feel free to embed or distribute this video.

MicrobeWorld visits the Marian Koshland Science Museum for “Microbe Lab,” a free day of activities for the general public. In this episode we interview Erika Shugart, deputy director of the Koshland Museum, about “Microbe Lab” and the Crack Koshie’s Curious Case: A Disease Detective Mission activity. Next, we talk with Nagla Fetouh, Education Program Manager for the Koshland Museum, who led a disease exchange activity that teaches people about ways to control the spread of infectious disease by participating in a simulation that shows just how fast illness can spread. Finally, Eric Flem, Communications Manager for Nikon Instruments, Inc., led us through a demonstration of Nikon’s Coolscope. A state of the art microscope used by clinicians and educators that has the ability to broadcast images live on the internet.

MicrobeWorld goes to the theatre to see the history of microbiology in nine scenes of gags, burlesque, drollery and song. Produced by Active Cultures, the vernacular theatre of Maryland, Petri Dish Circus is a play loosely based off of the classic non fiction novel Microbe Hunters by Paul Henry De Kruif. Muech like the original book first published in 1926 that describes 12 historical milestones in science, Active Cultures reenacts “the daring-do of Louis Pasteur in his Parisian lab, the Scotch fortitude of Ronald Ross as he travels through disease-stricken Africa, and the melancholy saga of Walter Reed as he battles Yellow Jack in Cuba” — all with a healthy dose of humor. In this episode we interview Mary Resing, artistic director for Active Cultures, who talks about Microbe Hunters as inspiration for theatre and her whimsical, and slightly pointed, approach to portraying the women featured in De Kruif’s work. Excerpts from the actual performance are also featured.

MicrobeWorld visits The Maloy Lab at San Diego State University to talk with Professor Stanley Maloy and three grad students, Dave Matthews, Gerardo Perez and Veronica Casas, about their research. The Maloy Lab focuses on the genetics and physiology of Salmonella and bacteriophage that infect Salmonella. Maloy and his students use a combination of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and genomic approaches to answer questions about the uptake of DNA from bacteriophage, transfer of genes between bacteria and phage, and the evolution of pathogenesis.

Since the introduction of MSX and Dermo in the 1950’s, two infectious diseases that played a large role in the decline the Chesapeake Bay’s oyster population, several oyster hatcheries along the Eastern seaboard are working with scientists across many fields to develop innovative restoration programs. One idea is to introduce a non-native oyster from China called Crassostrea ariakensis.

In this video podcast, MicrobeWorld talks about current research underway with C. ariakensis, the potential risk of new diseases that could affect the Bay’s ecology and/or human health, the attitudes of Maryland’s watermen, and the role of local, state and federal policy.

Special thanks goes out to the DC Science Writers Association, the Marian Koshland Science Museum and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Horn Point Laboratory for helping with the logistics and planning of the shoot.

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